West Midland Bird Club

Bartley Reservoir.

W. E. Kenrick.

This year has produced some quite interesting observations on the Bartley Reservoir. The water level depends on the whim of the Water Department and it so happened that we were lucky in having a low level in the autumn when the waders were passing through.

The general increase in the population has been maintained and the average figures for Mallard, Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye are 96, 23, 23, 6.5, compared with those in my last report of 79, 26, 19 and 7.

The main reservoir season is from October to March, which does not suit a report for the calendar year, and therefore I shall go beyond the strict period as I did last year.

Pochard throughout the season have been more frequent, but the numbers have fluctuated widely. The most interesting day was February 1,5th, 1936, when the greater part of the reservoir was frozen over. The open water was occupied by Tufted Duck, but on going to inspect the big Frankley tank we found it occupied by a flock of about 96 Pochard. This tank does not often have any birds on it and it is almost certain that this flock came over from the Bittell area.

Goldeneye continue to be regular visitors but there has been a marked alteration in their habits, for which I am unable to account. In the 1933/34 and 1934/35 seasons they were usually to be found in a close flock, and days when they were scattered were the exception. This season, however, there have been usually pairs or single birds in different parts of the reservoir until March 22nd, 1936, when we found that they had gone into a small flock of 9 and for the next three weeks there was a flock of 8 including 2 adult males.

As mentioned above, the water level was very low in August and September and a considerable stretch of concrete was exposed. On August 17th, there was a flock of 244 Lapwing and smaller flocks appeared during the following months, the last lot being 105 on November 2nd. On September 22nd a flock of about 30 small waders flew off before we could identify them. They were apparently Dunlin and Ringed Plover. On this day and the 28th there was also a Common Sandpiper. On October 12th there was a Ringed Plover and 17 Dunlin were seen on the 24th (H.G.A.) and one on October 27th and one on November 2nd. On October 24th (H.G.A.) also saw a Curlew,—the first record for the reservoir.

Other interesting records in 1935 are as follows:-

Pintail. 7 on March 16th. 2 on March 18th (C.J.). 1 female December 1st.

Shelduck. 1 on May 4th.

Shoveler. 2 females on November 2nd.

Goosander. 1 female on February 5th and 10th. Smew. 1 female on January 5th.

Common Scoter. 1 female on November 23rd. Two Terns were seen on September 19th and an Arctic Tern was identified on September 22nd.

I had hoped to be able to say something about the Gulls by now, but the information is so incomplete that I must postpone the matter again. Gulls usually appear over the reservoir without warning and pass on without stopping, so you have to be quick and lucky to see them. The most common are the Black-headed Gulls and the most I can say at the moment is that the birds generally approach over the city from the north-east and pass on in a southerly or south-westerly direction.  I badly want information about gulls seen in this district on passage, and I should be glad if anyone seeing a gull locally would report it to me or to the editors, stating, if possible, (1) the day and time, (2) the place, (3) the type of gull, (4) the direction of flight. I may not be able to do anything with the information, but at any rate I think it is worth trying.

I regret to have to draw attention to a misprint in my report for 1934. On page 21 paragraph 2 the direction S.W. should of course be S.E.